FORMER Ransomes, Sims and
Jefferies chief executive Bob Dodsworth has died aged 73.
He joined the company in 1963 as
chief accountant and served for 16 years as chief executive until his
retirement in 1993.
In 1970 he oversaw the beginning
of the development of the company’s surplus land at Nacton on the outskirts of Ipswich, which today is the town’s major commercial
centre, Ransomes Europark.
Mr Dodsworth was born in
Darlington in 1936 and after excelling at BarnardCastleSchool,
went to KingsCollege,
Newcastle,
where he took an economics degree course. In 1957 he joined the accountancy
practice of Peat Marwick and Mitchell in his home town before transferring to
the firm’s London
office.
In 1962 he wanted a change of
direction and entered the industry sector, which eventually led to him joining
Ransomes in 1963.
He was very active in the business
community of Ipswich and held several
non-executive directorships with the Ipswich Building Society, Ipswich Port
Authority, the East Anglian Daily Times Group and the Eastern Regional board of
National Westminster Bank plc. He was on the board of ChristchurchParkHospital for more than 20
years, the last eight as chairman. In 1988 he was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk.
The managing director of Ransomes
Jacobsen, David Withers, said Mr Dodsworth was a devoted family man and was at
the helm of the company at an important and successful period in its
illustrious history.
“He will be sadly missed by his
wife Hazel, sons John and Simon and his five grandchildren and everyone who
knew or worked with him,” he said.
